


Strength

by dragonofdispair



Series: Roads [36]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-01
Updated: 2008-05-01
Packaged: 2018-02-26 19:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2663531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonofdispair/pseuds/dragonofdispair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes bad things happen. And sometimes there are no good choices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strength

(We see your secret.)

Scorponok ignored the words. They didn't matter. All that mattered -- all that ever mattered -- was his loyalty to his master and turning his master's enemies into scrap metal.

(It cannot be hidden from us.)

Today he grappled with Ravage. As the robotic cat leaped at him, Scorponok tried to use the blades on his claw-cannons to knock him out of his spring. But Ravage was fast and put two sets of deep cuts in his armor. He retaliated with a tail-strike that put a serious gash across the cat's shoulder and knocked him away. Scorponok's claw-cannons were instantly online. The first shot hit Ravage in the hind leg as he dodged, the second missed entirely, and the cat began to bring his own cannons up. Scorponok burrowed as Ravage started shooting and felt the third shot from the cat's much faster gun connect with his tail. Then he was underground. Ravage could not touch him here.

(You cannot hide from us.)

Something impacted with the ground and it shook. The vibrations scrambled Scorponok's sensitive seismic- and vibro-sensors. Panicked, he struggled out of the dirt. Instinctively, he didn't allow his sensors the moment they needed to recover. He just spun and shot, almost blindly. A sound a human would have said was a tire backfiring let him know he'd connected. His sensors finished recalibrating and he recognized Rumble, who was now advancing on him with his piledrivers. The ground wouldn't be safe until he was dealt with. He let off another shot with a claw-cannon. It went wide as Ravage latched onto one of his legs from behind him. He screeched and spun, Trying to dislodge the cat. He felt Ravage slip, but before he could take advantage, Rumble descended on him with his piledrivers.

(You are once again ours.)

Scorponok knew he was in trouble when he came back online in a box. The box was smallish and made of blueish metal. He rebooted his sensors and tried to get a picture of what might be outside his prison -- static from his standard sensors and sonar only told him the size and shape of the box. There was a sensor and communications block up.

He ran diagnostics to assess his injuries. He had a scorch mark on his tail from Ravage's cannon. Scores in his armor from the cat's claws. His leg where Ravage had grabbed him had been crushed -- that would need a medic. He folded it up so that it would not affect his maneuverability. Doing so was painful, yet worth it if there was any sort of combat required to escape. There was dented armor and broken blades from Rumble's piledrivers. Both his claw-cannons were offline -- one had been switched off by his captors, the other damaged by Rumble. He checked the stinger on his tail and found it, at least, was fully functional.

"Is it online yet?" The words were Cybertronian. The voice was Starscream's.

"Drone status: online." That was Soundwave. Scorponok rattled his armor plates to make an aggressive rattle-hiss sound.

"Good. Inform it that it's is to transmit its link codes to me."

Soundwave didn't bother relaying the message -- he knew Scorponok would hear what was being said. My Master is Optimus Prime, he silently affirmed within his processor, knowing the telepathic Decepticon would hear it. As loudly as he could, he prepped his tail-stinger to strike. He conjured a memory of a mech he'd killed in battle and replaced the memory of the nameless Autobot with an image of Starscream.

"Offer: refused."

"It knows the consequences, I assume."

Scorponok replaced the visual of killing Starscream with one of the blue and white Autobot spy killing Ravage. He took care and built it pixel by pixel, making the fantasy as real as memory. For added effect he added a bit of his memory of when Blackout was killed -- what it felt like to have a link severed by death. He was rewarded by the sense of Soundwave's telepathic presence flinching and static-laughed viciously.

"Consequences: known." Was all he told Starscream.

"Very well. Open the box."

The box opened just enough for Starscream's hand to slip inside. Scorponok rattled aggressively and struck the hand with his one real functioning weapon. Starscream cursed and Scorponok static-laughed -- he'd felt the ripping of thin armor, the tearing of wires and small pipes. His stinger had streaks of blue energon and clear coolant on it.

The next time the hand appeared, Starscream didn't give him a chance to strike -- he grabbed him by the tail and violently dragged him out of the box. Hanging from Starscream's fist, Scorponok curled up and bit his captor, much harder than he'd ever bit one of the Autobots. The seeker cursed and shook his captive, but unlike Ironhide didn't drop him. The scorpion drone just curled up again and this time he didn't' just bite, he chewed at what he could reach of the delicate insides of his captors hand. The chemo-sensors in his mouth tasted energon, coolant, and lubricants.

"Lower the jamming field so I can bind this glitch."

"Inadvisable. Location: not secure against transmissions."

"I don't care."

Scorponok continued to chew on Starscream's hand. He managed to latch onto a muscular cable just before the seeker shook him again. The force of the shake ripped the cable and Scorponok was flung to the floor, static-laughing. Starscream wouldn't be using that hand until it was repaired. Some fifty feet away he regained his balance, splayed his five functional legs to brace for a jump, loudly prepped his tail for another strike and rattle-hissed at the two Decepticons.

"Soundwave..." Starscream almost growled as he stalked toward the aggressive drone.

The backlash from suddenly being able to see through sensors still set to their highest sensitivity blinded him. Desperately he tried to block Starscream from his systems and sent out a call of his own. The pathway he followed was familiar and always ended in a dead end. He meant it as a good bye and a warning, knowing his offer would not be accepted. 

Scorponok felt his command links lock and he shrieked, thinking that Starscream had managed already to get around the system blocks. Then his audios registered Starscream's own furious shriek. 

_I'm sorry. We'll be there soon._ The gentle voice that whispered across the command link was definitely not Starscream's. Rattle-hissing with fierce, vicious glee he turned his full attention to his Master's enemies: Starscream furiously readying his guns and Soundwave watching impassively. Nothing mattered except his loyalty to his master and turning his master's enemies to scrap metal. With a war-shriek, Scorponok leaped at Starscream and felt the seeker's first shot rip through his armor.

_I will die yours, Master._

 

 

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